No. 4 USC Women's Golf Wins 3rd Straight, Allisen Corpuz Leads 1-2-3 Individual Finish
Senior Allisen Corpuz fired a final round 6-under 66 to finish first at 10-under 206 – both career-best efforts – while senior Alyaa Abdulghany took second thanks to a final-round 68 and junior Malia Nam finished third, leading the No. 4 USC women's golf team to a dominating third straight win to start the season at The Gold Rush at Old Ranch C.C. in Seal Beach, Calif., on Tuesday (Feb. 23).
Including two wins to end last season, USC has now won five straight tournaments, the second-longest streak in program history. The record is eight spanning the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.
The Trojans captured the latest victory at a combined par 864 (290-290-284), 34 strokes better than second place UNLV and Cal Poly. Troy's three straight wins to start the season is its most since starting the 2013-2014 campaign with five in a row.
The victory also comes exactly five years after USC won at Old Ranch for the first time and also boasted a 1-2-3 finish behind Robynn Ree, Amy Lee and Tiffany Chan. Ree and Chan both now play on the LPGA Tour.
USC won the event despite losing three players (all potential starters for the event) and an assistant coach this week due to Covid-19 protocols.
"This week was quite strange and had a weird feeling to it. Being down a coach and a few starters presented a different challenge for us," USC Head Coach Justin Silverstein said. "I can't thank our department enough for helping us get cleared to play this week and for setting safety protocols that allowed us to continue to compete.
"This group of five did an amazing job focusing on the task at hand and taking care of business. Allisen's numbers speak for themselves. Her future is so bright, I cannot wait to see what's next. Alyaa got off to a rocky start at this event and then played as well as anyone. Her consistency throughout her game is so advanced. Malia was great in her return to the lineup and her solid play is going to be a huge part of our success going forward."
Corpuz was flawless in the final round, going out at 2-under and closing at 4-under, playing bogey free en route to her second win in the young season and her third top 3 in as many events. She is the first Trojan to win twice in a season since Jennifer Chang did it in the 2018-19 season. The last Trojan to win more than twice in a season was Annie Park with four victories in 2013 (which included Pac-12, Regional and NCAA titles).
Corpuz now has eight rounds under par in nine outings this season, including six in a row, and has three rounds under 70. She now has 13 career rounds in the 60s, tied for seventh on USC's career chart.
"I played really well today. I've been working on a few things in my game and saw a lot of that pay off," Corpuz said. "It was another great team effort as well this week and it's great to get the team win."
Abdulghany kept the pressure on Corpuz throughout the event, taking second at 6-under 210 (71-71-68) for her third top 10 to start the season, including two top 4s in a row. Her final round, tied for her second-best, saw a 2-over start through four holes and a six-under finish over the final 13 holes. She now has a streak of six straight rounds of par or better, including four under par.
"It was a great win for the team and I'm so proud of the girls," said Abdulaghany, who was paired with Corpuz. "This week goes to show that these girls are good, and no matter who we take, we can get the job done.
"It was great to play with and watch Allisen throughout this event. Watching her play definitely motivated me to play well. A lot of hard-work paid off for Allisen, it is well deserved."
Nam, in her first action this year, took third at par 216 (71-74-74). She was 2-over after three holes but eagled the par 5 6th hole and had two more birdies against just one more bogey the rest of the way.
Junior Katherine Muzi, in her third straight start with Corpuz and Abdulghany, tied for 28th at 16-over 232 (79-74-79), while freshman Christine Wang, in her USC debut tournament, took 45th at 24-over 240 (84-75-81).
"I know Kat and Christine aren't thrilled with their performance," Silverstein said, "but they both showed flashes of great stuff and I know their games will be better after learning from this event."
USC next plays at the Wildcat Invitational, March 8 and 9, in Tucson, Ariz.